Vietnamese women's critical reflections on their adaptation to living in the United Sates

165 Pages·2015·0.74 MB·English

Te University of San Francisco
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Doctoral Dissertations Teses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects
2008
Vietnamese women's critical refections on their
adaptation to living in the United Sates
Mai Le Ho Del Buono
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The University of San Francisco

VIETNAMESE WOMEN‘S CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON THEIR
ADAPTATION TO LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES

A Dissertation Presented
to
The Faculty of the School of Education
International and Multicultural Education Department

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education

by
Mai Le Ho Del Buono
San Francisco, California
December 2008
This dissertation, written under the direction of the candidate‘s dissertation committee
and approved by the members of the committee, has been presented to and accepted by
the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Education. The content and research methodologies presented
in this work represent the work of the candidate alone.

Maile Del Buono__________________________ 12/03/08________
Candidate Date

Dissertation Committee

Brian A. Gerrard___________________________ 12/03/08________
Chairperson

Rosita G. Galang___________________________ 12/03/08________

Betty Taylor_______________________________ 12/03/08________

ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I—THE RESEARCH PROBLEM……………………………………1
Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................1
Purpose of the Study ...........................................................................................4
Research Questions .............................................................................................4
Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................5
Scope and Delimitation of the Study ..................................................................8
Definition ............................................................................................................9

CHAPTER II—REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE..............................................11
Introduction .......................................................................................................11
Adaptation and Acculturation of Immigrants ...................................................12
Feminist Perspectives of Gender Oppression ...................................................18
Vietnamese Women‘s Place in History ............................................................31
Vietnamese Emigration to the United States ....................................................34
Vietnamese Adaptation to Life in the United States .........................................37
Summary ...........................................................................................................40

CHAPTER III—METHODOLOGY .....................................................................42
Research Design................................................................................................42
Research Questions That Guided the Initial Dialogues ....................................47
Research Setting................................................................................................49
Research Participants ........................................................................................49
Data Collection .................................................................................................51
Data Analysis ....................................................................................................53
Protection of Human Participants .....................................................................54
Background of the Researcher ..........................................................................54
Summary ...........................................................................................................54

CHAPTER IV—FINDINGS .................................................................................57
Introduction .......................................................................................................57
Demographic Information .................................................................................59
The Common Shared Themes ...........................................................................63
The Unique Themes ..........................................................................................86
Summary ...........................................................................................................94

CHAPTER V—SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....98
Summary Findings ............................................................................................99
Other Findings ................................................................................................103
iii
Recommendations for Educators, Practitioners, and Educators .....................106
Limitations ......................................................................................................110
Recommendations for Future Research ..........................................................110

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................113
APPENDICES .....................................................................................................123
Appendix A: Recruitment Flier ..........................................................................124
Appendix B: Letter to Prospective Participants—Vietnamese Version .............125
Appendix C: Invitation Letter: English Version ................................................126
Appendix D: Informed Consent Form ................................................................127
Appendix E: Participant Dialogues .....................................................................130

iv
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of Participants‘ Background ...................................................62

Table 2: What challenges to Vietnamese women face in adapting to life in
the United States? ............................................................................................96

Table 3: What strategies do Vietnamese women use to overcome the
challenges they face in adapting to life in the United States? ..........................96

Table 4: What recommendations would they offer to other Vietnamese
women as they attempt to adapt to life in the United States? ..........................97

v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

One of the greatest motivations while working on this study has been to arrive at
this final stage. I now have the honor to write this page of dedication to the great people
in my life that have helped me to accomplish this work.
I would like first to dedicate this dissertation to my husband and children whose
love, support, and encouragement gave me the will and strength to complete the study.
To you, Barry, thank you for endless hours of editing and reading over these pages. To
you, Catherine, thanks for the many trips to the City and waiting for mom to see her
advisor at USF. To Don and Daniel, thank you for your great spirit and tech support. In
addition, to Micah and Ben, thanks for your love and respect for Education.
I would also like to acknowledge my parents and siblings for the years of their support of
me in this endeavor.
My sincere appreciation to Dr. Gerrard who profoundly helped me complete this
study. His dedication and scholarship as a teacher inspires students to produce work
beyond their expectations. I would also like to give my gratitude to Dr. Galang who
helped me shape this study from the very beginning, and advised me throughout my years
at USF. Thank you, Dr. Taylor, for your valuable guidance in this research.
Many thanks to six beautiful Vietnamese women whose generosity and sincere voices
gave life to this study. You are modern day heroes whose contributions to human history
will help future generations of Vietnamese American women in the United States.
Lastly, I wish to recognize those who have shaped and graced my life. I am inspired by
life and the Divine. I thank my colleagues for encouraging me to be a better educator,
woman, and community leader.
vi
1
CHAPTER 1
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

―Conflicts arose in my family because women adapt, or desire to adapt, more
quickly than men do. The fact that men do not want to change, culturally, and
women do, creates an imbalance in the family system. This imbalance creates an
imbalance in the Vietnamese community.‖
-Hyacinth.

Statement of the Problem
In a recent article on Vietnamese refugee women‘s identity, the authors point out
that ―every person is a cultural being…and culture influences behaviors, thinking,
feelings, attitudes, values, and beliefs‖ (Phan, Rivera, & Roberts-Wilbur, 2005, p. 306).
While all people experience some complications in life, ethnic immigrants and refugees
tend to experience magnified complications due to sexism, racism, and dominant cultural
oppression (Parham, 1999; Phan et al., 2005). For ethnic immigrant and refugee women,
the prospect of living in a new culture such as the United States, on one hand, may bring
new freedoms. On the other hand, in addition to the cultural stereotypes and norms from
the ―old country,‖ these immigrant and refugee women may face additional issues such as
gender role conflict, work discrimination, and racial discrimination. Researchers and
theorists have noted that very little is known about the adaptation of Vietnamese refugee
and immigrant women (Parham, 1999; Phan et al., 2005). Therefore, the purpose of this
qualitative study is to explore the experiences of Vietnamese refugee and immigrant
women in order to understand the nature of their adaptation to the U.S. culture.
The new wave of Southeast Asian immigration to the United States has been
ongoing for more than three decades. Approximately 18,000 Vietnamese migrated to the
2
United States between 1955 and 1974, primarily the wives of U.S. service members, and
some students (Gordon, 1989). The first significant wave of Vietnamese refugees,
numbering 125,000, arrived after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. A second large wave
occurring between 1979–82 added an additional 270,000 Vietnamese refugees, a
disproportionate number of whom were female (Hein & Beger, 1993). Beginning with
the fall of Saigon, between two and three million Vietnamese men, women, and
children—including this writer, who was then 13—escaped from their homeland, and
eventually 1.7 million of them settled in the United States, of which at least 600,000 now
reside in California (Banerjee, 2001; Freeman, 1989; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). With
this resettlement came a shift in cultural values and assumptions, which led many
women, including this writer, to develop a dual identity, partly accepting, and partly
rejecting the old order.
Throughout Vietnamese history, as power changed hands from one ruler to the
next, the challenges that Vietnamese women faced also changed—arguably for the worse
(Marr, 1981). This was especially true during the Vietnam War, when the women had to
be the breadwinners, in addition to their other responsibilities, because their husbands
were away fighting (Chung, 1991; Englemann, 1990; Espiritu, 1997). They may also
have had to take care of their husbands‘ parents (Hayslip & Wurts, 1989).
Vietnamese society is one in which women have been and still are relegated to a
subservient role to the males in their lives. Based on the three submissions that are
thought to have derived from Confucian teachings, women are supposed to follow thusly:
First, as girls at home, they must obey their fathers. When they get married, they must
obey their husbands. If they survive their husbands, they must obey their eldest sons
3
(Sully, 1971). This arrangement has been upheld for centuries, not only by men but also
by women themselves, who have been conditioned to accept it by their parents, and who
in turn pass it on uncritically to their sons and daughters (Chung, Bemak, & Wong,
2000). As Chung et al. note, psychologically, many Vietnamese women have internalized
and built personal identities based on gender role oppression.
Despite Vietnamese emigration to the U.S. reportedly having resulted in greater
gender parity (Chung & Bemak, 1998; Kibria, 1993) and some indication that there have
been gender role changes (Chung et al., 2000; Zhou & Bankston, 2001) among
Vietnamese immigrants, Vietnamese women may be at risk for double oppression. There
are clear signs that Vietnamese women are a particularly at risk population. According to
the National Institute of Health, Vietnamese-American women have the highest cervical
cancer rate of any ethnic group in the U.S. (NIH, 2005) and are younger at diagnosis with
breast cancer with the poorest prognosis than other ethnic groups (Lee, Lin, Wrensch,
Adler, & Eisenberg, 2002). Health professionals speculate that such high rates are due to
cultural norms that reinforce oppression. Recent research also indicates that Vietnamese
women experience a high rate of discrimination in employment making them particularly
vulnerable to economic oppression (Espiritu, 1999).
Vietnamese women in the U.S. experience a high rate of domestic violence (Bui
& Morash, 1999; Nguyen, 2004) and are less likely to seek help compared to other ethnic
women. Studies have shown that while Vietnamese women are more likely to embrace
American culture than their male counterparts (Bui & Morash, 1999; Nguyen, 2004),
they are less likely to benefit from assimilation into the American culture due to the
domination by male family members (Bui & Morash, 1999; Nguyen, 2002). The research